Groveport Madison

Board mulls $5.5 million emergency levy for May

Voters in the Groveport Madison Local School District will go to the polls in May to decide the fate of a $5.5 million, five-year emergency levy.

Thursday, Jan. 24, the board of education unanimously decided to place the issue on the ballot when they voted to send the issue to the Franklin County Board of Elections.

If approved by voters, the 7.08-mill levy would go into effect Jan. 1, 2014, and would cost about $217 more per year in property taxes for every $100,000 of assessed property value, or nearly $18 per month.

According to a five-year forecast presented to the Ohio Department of Education last year, the district is anticipating being in the hole by nearly $438,000 by June 30, 2013.

The deficit jumps to $4.7 million next school year.

To help make ends meet each year, Superintendent Bruce Hoover said the district has been relying on cash advances from the Franklin County Auditor's office.

"That (levy approval) solves the cash flow and also allows us to stop our dependency on the cash advance," Hoover said.

While approval of the levy would give the school system some "breathing room," Hoover said there is still the need for a $2 million district reorganization to streamline operations.

The nature of those cuts for the 2013-2014 school year is expected to be presented to the board in March, which is about the same time the district is expected to learn details of Gov. John Kasich's new school funding formula.